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DICKENS (CHARLES) Sketches by "Boz". Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People... New Edition, IN THE ORIGINAL 20 MONTHLY PARTS, Chapman & Hall, November 1837-June 1839 image 1
DICKENS (CHARLES) Sketches by "Boz". Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People... New Edition, IN THE ORIGINAL 20 MONTHLY PARTS, Chapman & Hall, November 1837-June 1839 image 2
CHARLES DICKENS: THE COLLECTION OF W.H. COLLIS OF LIVERPOOL
Lot 70

DICKENS (CHARLES)
Sketches by "Boz", IN THE ORIGINAL 20 MONTHLY PARTS, November 1837-June 1839

1 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £19,000 inc. premium

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DICKENS (CHARLES)

Sketches by "Boz". Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People... New Edition, IN THE ORIGINAL 20 MONTHLY PARTS, additional etched title and 39 plates by Cruikshank, with publisher's imprint from part 7 onwards, p.18 with '8' set lower, p.50 with '0' set higher, 'p.83' level and clear, 'p.515' correct, p.526 with "reeledbefore", advertisement leaves as called for by Hatton & Cleaver comprising those in part 1 (8pp.), part 2 (8pp. including Address), part 3 (4pp., 8pp., 18-page Mechi Catalogue with wrappers), part 5 (4pp. 'Proclamation'), part 9 (4pp.), publisher's pink pictorial wrappers, some soiling, 8 of the parts noted by Collis as "untouched" (3 with backstrips chipped), others restored by Riviere or Morrell (3 wrappers substituted, see condition report for further details), each part preserved in Collis's annotated paper wrapper, together with loosely inserted letterpress from part 2, a single uncut sheet with the 2 plates from part 3, and letters from Thomas Hatton and Thomas Thorp, housed in brown and green half morocco top-opening slipcase, with gilt panelled spine and laid on manuscript title label [Eckel p.15; Gimbel A6; Hatton & Cleaver p.89-128], 8vo, Chapman & Hall, November 1837-June 1839

Footnotes

W.H. COLLIS'S "BEST SET" OF 'SKETCHES BY BOZ' IN THE ORIGINAL PARTS. One of the rarest of Dickens's works to appear in parts, the present set is complete with all the advertisements called for by Hatton & Cleaver, and the usual thirteen additional plates supplied to supplement the twenty-seven etchings which appeared in the earlier book form issue.

The Sketches had first been published in different periodicals and newspapers, and some were then gathered into book form in two series published 1836 and 1837 (see preceding lots). The copyright was purchased outright by Chapman and Hall who issued the work in monthly parts to meet the form's growing popularity, and to coincide with appearance of the final part of Pickwick Papers. The change from Pickwick's standard green wrappers to light pink was not popular at the time, resulting in fewer advertisements being supplied.

In the letter from Thomas Thorp, dated 10 December 1931, the bookseller is amongst other things offering Collis an incomplete set of 'Boz' ("I can let you have Sketches by Boz, as catalogued, for £165, or will give you a good price for the two missing parts"); the offer was evidently not taken up since Collis's notes show that most of the parts were bought on two separate occasions in 1934, and one in 1928, the earliest date we have found recording a purchase by Collis.

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